Red Spruce Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,567,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,859,000 after acquiring an additional 113,878 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 7.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 938,980 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,467,000 after purchasing an additional 61,022 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 11.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 918,235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,023,000 after purchasing an additional 91,369 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 5.8% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 641,779 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after buying an additional 35,077 shares during the period. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 361,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,135,000 after buying an additional 11,585 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSM shares. Stephens lowered shares of MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSC Industrial Direct

In other news, CEO Erik Gershwind sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.36, for a total value of $4,518,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,402,849 shares in the company, valued at $126,761,435.64. This represents a 3.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Philip Peller sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.07, for a total transaction of $80,163.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,199.08. This represents a 18.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE MSM opened at $82.83 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.77 and a beta of 0.91. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.79 and a 12 month high of $104.76.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 17.80%. The business had revenue of $928.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is 81.15%.

MSC Industrial Direct Profile

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's MRO products include cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies.